Tech

So How Much Do YouTubers Make?

Making money from YouTube is very easy nowadays. Just think of your hobbies, and create an audience for yourself. Let’s say you play football, you can make a channel where you show how to do trickshots. If you play the guitar, you can create a channel for guitar reviews. If you are good at math, create a channel solving math problems etc. Just try to be creative and different to your competitors

The enormous popularity of Youtube has led to a new kind of business opportunity. Entrepreneurs with a talent for entertaining or informing have sprung up around the globe, some making millions. While this is not a career for everyone, and many performers with hundreds of thousands of followers aren't making any significant amount of money, it has certainly been a dream come true for the lucky ones on the top list.

Some of this money comes from advertisements, while promoting products, sponsored videos, writing books based on the subject that led to their Youtube fame, or making paid appearances are other sources of revenue. Several Youtube stars have leveraged their online fame into a different career trajectory. So how much do YouTubers make annually?

#10: Colleen Ballinger – $5 million

This American comedian and singer is known on Youtube as Miranda Sings, a pompous, untalented and generally dysfunctional comic character. Miranda can't sing, can't dance, can't understand what she sees on the news, but remains blissfully unaware of all of this as she emulates the many inept wannabes found on Youtube.

Colleen Ballinger, as herself, also appears in stand-up comedy videos and clips offering lifestyle advice (on a different channel. Don't worry, you can't confuse the two). She's made several television appearances, published a book about her life, landed a Netflix series and tours as a stand-up comedian.

Estimated earnings in 2016: $5 million

#9: Rhett and Link – $5 million

This comedy duo specializes in creating quirky, hugely funny video commercials that have a tendency to go viral. You can see them on their talk show in the mornings, called “Good Mythical Morning”, or their TV series “Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings”. Apart from these, Youtube offers a number of hugely amusing songs performed by these two.

Estimated earnings in 2016: $5 million

#8: Germán Garmendia – $5.5 million

Hailing from Chile, this Latin singer has won the hearts of millions of viewers with songs such as “Already Missing The Train” and “Will You Remember”.

His book, “#Chupaelperro”, has been well received in Spain and Latin America, while he also provided the voice of Julian in the Spanish edition of the film “Ice Age: Collision Course”

Estimated earnings in 2016: $5.5 million

#7: Markiplier – $5.5 million

Markiplier is the nom de tube of Mark Fischbach, who entertains his viewers by recording proceedings as he plays video games, usually those filled with action and elements of horror.

While watching these videos may seem like an odd pastime, Markiplier's channel is the 21st most popular channel on Youtube, based on subscriptions, indicating that his fans keep on coming back for more. He's known for an emotional style when tubecasting, is active in the gaming community and often interacts directly with fans, and also uses his popularity to earn money for charities.

Estimated earnings in 2016: $5.5 million

#6: Tyler Oakley – $6 million

Activist Tyler Oakley has made a name for himself as a supporter of LGBT rights, as well as a knowledgeable commentator on pop culture. He hosts his own eponymous Youtube show on admirer Ellen DeGeneres's platform since 2016, but has been a member of several other successful Youtube series. Offline, he has also written a hilarious memoir called “Binge”, in the form of a series of essays.

Estimated earnings in 2016: $6 million

#5: Rosanna Pansino – $6 million

After a few small roles in various well-known television series, Ronsanna Pansino found fame and fortune with her channel devoted to baking, called “Nerdy Nummies” – which happens to have more subscribers than any other baking channel on Youtube. Although she had been making videos for Youtube primarily to get practice in front of cameras, her viewers were soon demanding more videos. Other Youtube celebrities, including Markiplier and Rhett and Link, are frequent guests on her cooking clips.

“The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook” appeared on the New York Times bestseller list in November of 2015. Not just a pretty face, she's also won awards in the foodie world.

Estimated earnings in 2016: $6 million

#4: Smosh – $7 million

Another comedy pair, they specialize in videos of slapstick comedy sketches, often parodies of pop culture. Currently the proprietors of no fewer than seven Youtube channels, they are one of the first acts to become successful using this medium.

The Smosh channel has the 7th most subscribers of any Youtube channel at 22 million and growing, and the pair have had to hire staff to handle some aspects of their business, such as animation and videos in other languages.

Estimated earnings in 2016: $7 million

#3: Lilly Singh – $7.5 million

Lilly Singh's Youtube channel is a variety act, featuring both music and comedy. With an exceptionally devoted fanbase, she – known by some as “Superwoman” – went on a worldwide tour in 2015 and also published a feature-length movie called “Trip to Island Unicorn” on the paid Youtube service.

Estimated earnings in 2016: $7.5 million

#2: Roman Atwood – $7.5 million

One of the less tasteful comedians on Youtube, Roman Atwood specializes in arranging pranks, often designed to evoke extreme emotions from his victims – such as when he frightened his girlfriend by pretending to murder his own child.

Estimated earnings in 2016: $7.5 million

#1: PewDiePie – $7.5 million

Another video game enthusiast and commentator, PewDiePie (also known as Felix Kjellberg) produces videos of himself playing games, with the game action taking up the majority of the screen and an insert showing his facial reactions in one corner.

Unusually for a celebrity, online or off, he's decided to pack it all in, announcing that he would be deleting his Youtube account with 50 million subscribers at the end of 2016. However, he has so far not quite followed through on this.